NEIL Lennon admits the leakiness of his Wanderers defence is a growing concern – particularly on the road.

The Whites shipped four goals for the second successive away match at QPR on Saturday, taking the number conceded to 10 goals in their last three outings since the home goalless draw with Sheffield Wednesday.

Saturday's reverse at Loftus Road also means they now have the ignominy of having the worst away defence in the Championship with 12 goals conceded in five matches.

It is in stark contrast to the form at the Macron Stadium where the back line has only been breached four times in five games.

It is possible the poor away form in 2015 is embedded in the players' psyche – at least that may be one explanation of why the tendency to leak goals comes away from home.

There is certainly a different mentality on show in away matches and Lennon believes the bad habit of conceding on the road could be down to the fact his side are not good enough to sit and soak up pressure when the home team has the initiative – a factor illustrated by QPR's stoppage-time winner last weekend.

The Wanderers boss said: “I don’t think we’re good enough to be negative, in terms of play defensively.

"You can see that we can’t even see a game out in the last four minutes, which is disappointing."

There have, of course, been mitigating factors.

They started the season with a relatively settled back four but an injury to Dorian Dervite saw his early-season partnership with Prince-Desire Gouano broken up after just five league outings in which they conceded five goals.

In the five games since the goalless draw at Blackburn, Wanderers have let in more than double that with 11.

The last few weeks have also seen disruption to Lennon's staff with long-time lieutenant Johan Mjallby leaving the club to return to his native Sweden for personal reasons to be replaced by new number two Steve Walford.

Mjallby took care of the defensive coaching on the training ground and his exit may be a contributing factor.

Lennon is unsure, however, stating there have been no changes to they way Wanderers train at Euxton.

The Whites boss added: "I don’t think it has been an issue because we haven’t changed anything.

“I suppose it might, it was his forte, but it can’t be an issue I point at.

“Johan is gone and Steve has come in to do a good job for me."